Early Season evaluation: Corey Brewer

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Overview - Flip brought Corey Brewer into the fold in the summer of 2013 to help build a playoff team. He was to be used as a pure complementary player, with Love, Rubio, Pek, and Martin carrying the main load offensively. The result was a career year for Corey, where he was the starting SF in one of the most potent starting 5 in the NBA (go look at the numbers - those 5 were fantastic together). He made a living catching Love outlet passes for easy dunks and Rubio feeds on hard basket cuts. He had by far his most efficient year as a scorer, with a 55 TS% (vs. a career mark of 50 TS%). He is the poster child for how you can take what historically was a mediocre talent and turn his strengths into a real asset due to the superior players he was surrounded by. Boy, how things have changed this year....

Offense - Corey is a flat-out liability in half-court sets. He doesn't have the handles or strength to get to the basket off the dribble and he doesn't have the outside shot to make teams pay for sagging off of him. The one thing he does well is move without the ball, which yields a lot of good looks around the rim. Usually when Corey scores in the halfcourt, it's because he makes a timely basket cut. This year especially, Corey is struggling to shoot the ball, posting a FG% of 20% on both 3 pointers and long 2's. That is unspeakably bad for an NBA perimeter player.

Where Corey is still pretty effective is in the open court. He runs the floor about as fast as anyone in the game and can make some pretty advanced moves as he slithers his way through traffic. But again, this is in the rare instance we corral a rebound off a missed shot or create a turnover, then organize a quick-hitting fast break. In other words, a lot needs to go right. His deficiencies in the halfcourt far outweigh his strengths filling the lane on the fast break.

Corey is actually not a bad passer, even dating back to his rookie year. He isn't a ball stopper and occasionally makes passes that go beyond just fundamental kick outs or swing passes. I suppose this is why Flip has him filling in as our emergency PG.

Defense - Corey Brewer does more harm than good defensively. Yes, he makes some home run plays with steals that lead to easy baskets, but more often than not, his gambling creates a domino effect of problems that inevitably leads to a wide open shot. Whenever you see a guy with a wide-open 3 point shot, there is a halfway decent chance that it all started with Corey gambling on a steal and someone else having to compensate for him.

Where Corey is at his best defensively is in ball denial, and he especially gets up for this against some of the better wings in the NBA. We have seen less of him doing that this year since it's usually Wiggins with the top assignment.

Once his man does get the ball and squares up, he's generally at a disadvantage. Despite Corey's elite north-south speed, his lateral quickness is actually quite average. He regularly gets beat off the dribble by quicker opponents and outmuscled by stronger opponents. And as Lip has told us numerous times in the past, while Corey looks long due to his lanky frame, he's actually quite short in terms of his overall standing reach.

Summary - No one works harder than Corey Brewer. That's why we all love and admire him. His energy and competitiveness is infectious and hopefully is rubbing off on the younger guys. That being said, he is a below average NBA contributor who is being stretched way beyond his capabilities this season, similar to Thad Young. And his brand of chaotic, open floor basketball is not conducive to the organized, disciplined approach that leads to winning playoff series. I really don't see a place for him on our roster over the long run. I'm assuming the Wolves won't re-up his contract once it expires, or he'll be traded beforehand.

[thedoper]

Overview - Flip brought Corey Brewer into the fold in the summer of 2013 to help build a playoff team. He was to be used as a pure complementary player, with Love, Rubio, Pek, and Martin carrying the main load offensively. The result was a career year for Corey, where he was the starting SF in one of the most potent starting 5 in the NBA (go look at the numbers - those 5 were fantastic together). He made a living catching Love outlet passes for easy dunks and Rubio feeds on hard basket cuts. He had by far his most efficient year as a scorer, with a 55 TS% (vs. a career mark of 50 TS%). He is the poster child for how you can take what historically was a mediocre talent and turn his strengths into a real asset due to the superior players he was surrounded by. Boy, how things have changed this year....

Offense - Corey is a flat-out liability in half-court sets. He doesn't have the handles or strength to get to the basket off the dribble and he doesn't have the outside shot to make teams pay for sagging off of him. The one thing he does well is move without the ball, which yields a lot of good looks around the rim. Usually when Corey scores in the halfcourt, it's because he makes a timely basket cut. This year especially, Corey is struggling to shoot the ball, posting a FG% of 20% on both 3 pointers and long 2's. That is unspeakably bad for an NBA perimeter player.

Where Corey is still pretty effective is in the open court. He runs the floor about as fast as anyone in the game and can make some pretty advanced moves as he slithers his way through traffic. But again, this is in the rare instance we corral a rebound off a missed shot or create a turnover, then organize a quick-hitting fast break. In other words, a lot needs to go right. His deficiencies in the halfcourt far outweigh his strengths filling the lane on the fast break.

Corey is actually not a bad passer, even dating back to his rookie year. He isn't a ball stopper and occasionally makes passes that go beyond just fundamental kick outs or swing passes. I suppose this is why Flip has him filling in as our emergency PG.

Defense - Corey Brewer does more harm than good defensively. Yes, he makes some home run plays with steals that lead to easy baskets, but more often than not, his gambling creates a domino effect of problems that inevitably leads to a wide open shot. Whenever you see a guy with a wide-open 3 point shot, there is a halfway decent chance that it all started with Corey gambling on a steal and someone else having to compensate for him.

Where Corey is at his best defensively is in ball denial, and he especially gets up for this against some of the better wings in the NBA. We have seen less of him doing that this year since it's usually Wiggins with the top assignment.

Once his man does get the ball and squares up, he's generally at a disadvantage. Despite Corey's elite north-south speed, his lateral quickness is actually quite average. He regularly gets beat off the dribble by quicker opponents and outmuscled by stronger opponents. And as Lip has told us numerous times in the past, while Corey looks long due to his lanky frame, he's actually quite short in terms of his overall standing reach.

Summary - No one works harder than Corey Brewer. That's why we all love and admire him. His energy and competitiveness is infectious and hopefully is rubbing off on the younger guys. That being said, he is a below average NBA contributor who is being stretched way beyond his capabilities this season, similar to Thad Young. And his brand of chaotic, open floor basketball is not conducive to the organized, disciplined approach that leads to winning playoff series. I really don't see a place for him on our roster over the long run. I'm assuming the Wolves won't re-up his contract once it expires, or he'll be traded beforehand.

I agree with this completely. Corey was an 11 minute a game player once he got on Dallas's championship team. How he was pegged as a starter with us is insane. I love his effort and think he could be a great disruptive force as an 8 or 9th guy on a solid playoff team. But no way is he a starter in the league on any team but ours., yet he was a FA target by our front office at the time. Ugh.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Brewer is a poor starter in the league. But arguably one of the best energy guys off the bench. He was a key rotation guy in Denver where he was getting 24 minutes per night.

Right now, the Wolves are in such dire shape, Brewer looks like one of the few ready-for-the-NBA guys on the court. Obviously, he's being asked to do too much. But, he's been willing, which makes him a professional.

And with such a young team that has no idea (or leadership) to show them how to win... they can at least learn how to accept a role and be a professional from Brewer.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Q, I have been busy with a new project, so I haven't been able to log in here very much recently, but let me add my voice to the chorus of appreciation for these player evaluations you are doing. I think you asked for others to pick up the ball and evaluate other players, but frankly you may have set the bar too high! I don't agree with everything, but you are turning out an extraordinary product...truly an MVP performance!

I know you mentioned Corey's passing, but I don't know that we have given him enough kudos for his recent assist performance...5.8 per game the past 5 games, with increasing totals every game.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Thanks Long and thanks to those of you that have read and/or commented on them! I enjoyed putting them together.

[bleedspeed]

Q - They are awesome. I struggle to but together a sentence let alone a complete report on each player.